Subject:DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:audkalon03/08/06 at 10:15 pm

It wasn't until recently when I thought about how much people were obsessed with dinosaurs a while back, do you think it just a 80s/90s thing?

There were a number of movies with dinosaurs like "Jurassic Park"/"Lost World", "Prehisteria!" (1, 2, and 3), the countless "Land Before Time" movies, "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story", "Godzilla", "The Flinstones" movie, etc.

Also a lot of TV shows: the obvious sitcom named "Dinosaurs", there was also, "Dink, the little Dinosaur", "Denver, the last Dinosaur", "Land of The Lost", "Dino-Riders", even "Eek! the Cat" had a part of the show that was just dinosaurs.

I think there were a lot of kids playing with dinosaur toys too, not very many today I don't think. Why do you think there was an obsession with dinosaurs?

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:Tiaon03/08/06 at 10:29 pm

i grew up in the 70s and i was a dinosaur PSYCHO. don't forget we had "land of the lost," man. you can't overestimate how huge that cheesy-as show was back in the day. people worshipped it like a cult.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:Trimac20on03/08/06 at 10:31 pm

I used to be obsessed with dinosaurs when I was 4, 5, 6 years old (then it became basketball). I think 'Land Before Time' had alot to do with it, I think I also remember 'Dink.' It must be a few very influential movies which started it off. Think Shrek or Finding Nemo...but then again, I spose that didn't create an obsession in Ogres or Talking Donkeys.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:Donnie Darkoon03/08/06 at 11:12 pm

I was actually thinking the same thing.

I think it's more a little kid thing, like space and the Wild West are, but the '90s especially seemed to have a lot of dinosaur stuff.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:Tiaon03/08/06 at 11:20 pm

in the 70s it was dinosaurs -- i don't know if there was a particular reason why, little kids just always get wood for dinosaurs -- and planets. because of the space probes and stuff. i was big on knowing all the planets in order and which were the biggers and smallest and all that. and i knew pretty much all the dinosaurs and which were herbivores and omnivores and which lived in what time period and all that.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:deadrockstaron03/09/06 at 12:29 am

I was actually thinking the same thing.

I think it's more a little kid thing, like space and the Wild West are, but the '90s especially seemed to have a lot of dinosaur stuff.

Yeah, I agree. Lots and lots of little boys in the 90's played with those rubber Dinosaur figures. Jurassic Park sold TONS of merchandise. Both movies were pretty big events for kids back in the day.

Seems like Dinosaurs have gone out with today's kids. I think they'd rather watch Spongebob. ;D

Well, it happens. You gotta admit, for the most part, our generation wasn't too big on Cowboys and Indians. But with Boomers, that was perhaps the penultimate childhood fascination for boys.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:Donnie Darkoon03/09/06 at 1:21 am

^I agree. Dinosaurs were definitely a hot topic in the '90s, I mean my god they were everywhere!

Have you seen the "Toy Story" movies? I know they're kind of kiddie, but I like how in Toy Story 2 the Prospector talked about how when Sputnik went up in 1957 kids stopped caring about Western toys in favor of space toys. I'm not sure if it's true, but I think that scene was pretty clever.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:velvetoneoon03/09/06 at 5:53 am

Dinosaurs are still big with little kids today! But, yeah...plastic dinosaur figures seemed to be an obsession of little boys in the '90s, I had like 100 of those. It probably came from "Jurassic Park" and some shows like "The Lost World."

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:Trimac20on03/09/06 at 7:20 am

What about that whole Pokemon/Yu-gi-oh/DragonBallZ thing? That might be the natural sucessor of the 'dinosaur' craze. Instead of studying real but long gone creatures like dinosaurs, kids are into imaginery creatures the same way.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:velvetoneoon03/09/06 at 12:21 pm

What about that whole Pokemon/Yu-gi-oh/DragonBallZ thing? That might be the natural sucessor of the 'dinosaur' craze. Instead of studying real but long gone creatures like dinosaurs, kids are into imaginery creatures the same way.

I remember when Pokemon was HUGE in the late '90s, along with DragonBallZ. Now it seems like for except Yu-gi-oh, it's passed on somewhat.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:mach!ne_he@don03/09/06 at 1:38 pm

I remember when Pokemon was HUGE in the late '90s, along with DragonBallZ. Now it seems like for except Yu-gi-oh, it's passed on somewhat.

Yeah the Pokemon craze has been gone for a few years now(with its peak being 98/99). Even Yu-gi-oh isn't as big as it was 3 years ago.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:gmannon03/09/06 at 1:42 pm

I was a real geek when it came to dinosaurs. I was into it so much as a kid that, for a while, I wanted to be a paleontologist! Ah, the dreams of the young. I've never thought of my fascination with dinosaurs as anything specific to the 80s or 90s. I've always ssumed that every kid that's come along has been into 'em...

Tia, I too watched "Land of the Lost". The version from the 90s couldn't even begin to compare to the greatness of the original. 8)

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:mach!ne_he@don03/09/06 at 1:54 pm

I think kids have always been fasinated with dinosaurs(I sure was ;)) but I do agree that it seems less prevelant today than it did when I was a kid in the early-mid/90's.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:Marty McFlyon03/09/06 at 6:38 pm

I agree. I think Jurassic Park had alot to do with it -- despite being a relatively "scary" movie in places (even if the scene with the lawyer was laughable in a dark way ;D ) it seemed to fire everyone's imaginations as to what it could be like to have them come back to life.

Heck, I remember reading something in school around this time, about what it would take to actually do this. I forget all the details, but it was something to the effect of, "While it's a nice fantasy, we're a long way from actually making Jurassic Park a reality and probably never will," which made sense to me.

If you were 5 or so at the time, it's not like you'd know the difference, though. That's probably why kids liked 'em so much.

Subject:Re: DINOSAURS: An 80s/90s obsession(?)

Written By:Watcher29on03/10/06 at 10:31 am

Dinosaurs seem to be a perennial favorite, actually. I remember them being popular in the '70s when I was a kid. I remember a time during the 80s when they were popular, and again in the '90s. There's just something about this whole other world that existed way back that fascinates people.